above: A yoga session overlooking the Aegean Sea at Helios’ Mykonos retreat.

Train to Transform

Liz Pitassi just got out of a nine-year relationship. and her travel bug was back. She was into CrossFit and saw Lauren Fisher, a professional CrossFit athlete, post about a fitness retreat she was hosting in Bali—one with a $2,600 price tag.

She called her oldest brother, Ryan, in hopes he’d justify her spending that type of money on a fitness retreat. “I didn’t grow up in a stable financial home, so from the time I could work, I did all the things I had to to make sure I was good, and financially independent,” she said. By 32, she had paid her way through college, bought two homes and had a healthy savings account—in fact, she had only ever written one check larger than $1,000 prior to that, and it was for her home.

Ryan let her finish before his voice came through on the other line. “I have three questions,” he said. “One, do you really want to go?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Two, can you afford it?”

“Yes.”

“Three, what are you waiting for?”

So she signed up.

That week, she got in sweaty workout sessions at CrossFit Wanderlust, but she also took a surfing lesson, hung out on the beach with Balinese dogs, rented a scooter to poke around the island and woke up at 3:00 AM to hike up Mount Batur and watch the sunrise over an active volcano.

When asked what part of the retreat was most impactful, she replied, “Just going.”

VIN MICELI
has attended more than 15 fitness retreats as a speaker, sponsor and attendee with the mindset that some of the most special things that come out of these types of events are what happens in between the workouts.

“You find two types of people at these events—those who are successful looking to network or tap into something they lost, like their fitness or doing something hard,” Miceli says. “The other side of that spectrum are the people who spend their last $2,000 and are at the end of their rope—trying to connect, to grow, to heal a thing.”

One of the most impactful summits that Miceli has ever been to was the Action Cultivates Excellence (ACE) Summit, a weekend designed to redefine masculinity. In between the wellness and fitness activities, Miceli experienced something he never quite experienced before.

“I found a level of emotional growth that happens around a group of men when they don’t feel the need to be manly,” he said. “When there were only men in the room, these guys were sharing things they’d normally never say out loud. Even for me, it was immensely impactful.”

KATY INGULLI
is the Wellness and Fitness Director at Round Hill Club in Greenwich. When she’s not there, she’s in places like the Maldives and Tuscany teaching yoga for Helios Retreats.

At these retreats, there is typically a fitness class at 8 a.m., yoga at 9 and then a big brunch at 10. The afternoon is spent just hanging out or doing an excursion—like camel rides in Morocco or a wine tasting and picnic on the hilltops of Tuscany. The late afternoon usually has another fitness class, another yoga class, dinner and then an opportunity to leisurely hang out, maybe watch a movie on the beach or hang at the hotel pool.

“It’s an opportunity to escape, to put your phone down and just enjoy an entire day that is sort of planned out for you—not in a super structured way,” says Ingulli.

From her perspective, people sign up for these types of fitness retreats to mark a new beginning—the commitment to a healthier lifestyle, a divorce or even just a way to travel alone without quite being alone.

“They are so happy by the end because not only have they made new friends, but they spent a good amount of time working out, being outside, getting fresh air,” says Ingulli. “I’ve had a bunch of people come back for other retreats.”

Retreats are transformative. In fact, the fitness aspects seem to take a backseat to the other impact that people like Miceli and Ingulli experience. Miceli says, “The network of people you find yourself with for that time have always yielded me a friendship, a client, a vendor, a business partner—something that lasted far more than just the week or weekend.”

If price point is an issue, Miceli encourages you to evaluate the way you think about the retreats. He encourages those around him to try to make it work, within reason, if everything else about the retreat aligns with what they are looking for. “A well-executed retreat can fill your cup in a way other things can’t,” he says.